NIAD-UE University Quality
Assurance Forum 2015
27 July 2015

Academic Integrity
Dr Tim P Burton
Head of Standards, Quality and Enhancement
Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education
United Kingdom

The UK Quality Code …
As co-regulation

As a resource

Expectations

Introduction to each chapter– the ‘spirit’ of the chapter

Express key principles that thehigher education community has Indicators of soundidentified as essential for thepracticeassurance of academic• Illustrate ways of meeting thestandards and quality.
Expectation
Part A: 7
Part B: 11
Part C: 1• Help reflection• Not mandatory or exhaustive• Not models for imitation

Explanatory text
• Unpacks the indicators2

Three levels of responsibility
Institutional

Student

Staff

3

Three levels of responsibility
Institutional

Student

Staff

4

Academic integrity in the UK Quality
Code: Institutional level
Chapter B6: Assessment of students and therecognition of prior learning
Expectation:

Higher education providers operate equitable,
valid and reliable processes of assessment,
including for the recognition of prior learning,which enable every student to demonstrate theextent to which they have achieved theintended learning outcomes for the credit orqualification being sought.
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Academic integrity in the UK Quality
CodeChapter A2
Expectation A2.1:

In order to secure their academic standards, degreeawarding bodies establish transparent andcomprehensive academic frameworks andregulations to govern how they award academic
credit and qualifications.

6Three levels of responsibility
Institutional

StudentStaff

7

The staff perspective
Key stages of assessment:• Designing assessment as part of the learning,teaching and assessment strategy for the programme
and its constituent modules• Designing in assessment for learning• Designing out plagiarism or cheating• Developing grading and assessment criteria• Marking and moderation (internal and external)

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QAA (2012) Academic Integrity in Assessment, Understanding
assessment: its role in safeguarding academic standards andquality in higher education 2nd edition
••
•
••
•
•

Introducing academic integrity
The role of academic staff
Plagiarism, Definitions
Preventing plagiarism
Text-matching software
Other forms of misconduct
Professional misconduct/fitness to practice9

The staff perspective: focusing on earlycareer staff• QAA’s approach to supporting early career staff –developing a guide• How and why it was developed10Three levels of responsibility
InstitutionalStudentStaff

11

The student perspective
Assessment literacy

Indicator 6
Staff and students engage in dialogue to promote ashared understanding of the basis on which
academic judgements are made.

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The student perspective (2)The developmentalapproach

The securing
standards approach• Assessment literacy• Engagement in, andresponsibility for,learning• Good academic
practice• Unacceptable
academic practice• Identifying/detecting• Penalising• Deterring

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The student perspective (3)‘Good academic practice’
Indicator 7Students are provided with opportunities to develop
an understanding of, and the necessary skills todemonstrate, good academic practice.

14

The student perspective (4)‘Unacceptable academic practice’Indicator 14
Higher education providers operate processes forpreventing, identifying, investigating and responding
to unacceptable academic practice.

15

Challenges• For institutions• For staff• For students• Recognising recent developments (opportunities andpotential threats)• Essay ‘mills’• MOOCs• Advances in technology
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Principal sources
UK Quality Code for Higher Education:
http://www.qaa.ac.uk/assuring-standards-and-quality/the-qualitycode
Build your own Quality Code: http://www.qaa.ac.uk/assuringstandards-and-quality/the-quality-code/build-your-own-quality-codeintro
QAA (2012) Understanding Assessment: Its Role in Safeguarding
Academic Standards and Quality in Higher Education, Second
Edition: www.qaa.ac.uk/en/Publications/Documents/understandingassessment.pdf

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Principal sources
Carroll, J, A Handbook for Deterring Plagiarism in Higher Education(2nd ed., revised 2013)
The Higher Education Academy (2012) A Marked Improvement:
Transforming Assessment in Higher Educationwww.heacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/A_Marked_Improvement.p
df

ASKe Pedagogy Research Centre: http://www.brookes.ac.uk/aske/18

Principal sources
Academic Integrity Service (2010) Supporting academic integrity:
approaches and resources for higher education, The Higher
Education Academy and JISC. Available from: www.heacademy.
ac.uk/academic-integrity
Academic Integrity Service (2011) Policy works: recommendations
for reviewing policy to manage unacceptable academic practice inhigher education. The Higher Education Academy and JISC.
Available from: www.heacademy.ac.uk/academic-integrity
Crisp, G, (2012) Integrative assessment: reframing assessment
practice for current and future learning, Assessment & Evaluation inHigher Education, 37(1), pp33-43

19Principal sources
Heather, J (2010) Turnitoff: Identifying and Fixing a Hole in Current
Plagiarism Detection Software, Assessment & Evaluation in HigherEducation, 35(6), pp 647-660
QAA (2007), Integrative Assessment: Balancing assessment of andassessment for learning, Guide No. 2. Available at:www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/enhancementthemes/completedenhancement-themes/integrative-assessment
Sambell, K, McDowell, L, and Montgomery, C, (2012) Assessmentfor Learning in Higher Education, Routledge, London
Tennant, P and Duggan, F (2008) Academic Misconduct
Benchmarking Research Project: Part 2. The Recorded Incidence ofStudent Plagiarism and the Penalties Applied, available from www.
heacademy.ac.uk/ourwork/teachingandlearning/assessment/alldispl
ay?type=projects&newid=AMBeR&site=york
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Thank you!

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qaa.ac.uk
enquiries@qaa.ac.uk+44 (0) 1452 557000© The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education 2015
Registered charity numbers 1062746 and SC037786

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